


Working Girls

by orphan_account



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 16:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>told from the POV of Grace May Douglas, a newsie girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Carrying the Banner

Chapter One

 

“Headlines don’t sell papes, newsies sell papes,” I smirked at Jack Kelly as I got my papes. I tucked them under my arm and looked up at him. At nineteen, he was taller than I could probably ever grow to be. I was pretty scrawny for my seventeen years, but not short.   
“That’s what I’m always telling you,” he rolled his eyes and messed up my already messy hair. My hair was just below my shoulders and chocolate brown. Because it was wavy and kind of puffy, I could never pull it back completely, so my bangs and a little more always stayed out of the knot I kept it in. His messing up my hair did nothing, it seemed.   
“Yeah, yeah,” I mocked him and he nudged me forward. We sat down and counted our lot silently. I was the only girl newsie in these parts and Jack was the oldest, so he always kept near me to keep me safe. And I could help sell papes with him.   
“There’s only nineteen!” I heard a voice shout. I turned my head sharply in the direction of it and saw a boy arguing with the guy who gives out the papes. I stood up and Jack stood up with me. “I paid for twenty.”  
“You saying I’m a liar?” the man asked. I had never liked him and this gave me a reason.   
“Well, you do try to skim me every time you get a chance. Just ‘cause I’m a girl.” I said to him and set my jaw. I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin defiantly. I might be frail, but I was no coward.   
“Just give him what he paid for,” Jack said to the man and gave him a look I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of. I smiled a little.   
“I gave him what he paid for,” the man said and crossed his arms. Jack’s face changed and melted into a cold smile then he placed change onto the counter.   
“Give him a hundred,” he said and the man glared but handed it over. I looked at the boy Jack and I stood up for and smiled a little. He was just handsome enough to enjoy looking at, but not enough that you had to worry if he had an ego. Curly brown hair and hazel-green eyes that wouldn’t be noticed unless you were paying real close attention.  
“Look, I don’t need your help,” the boy said to Jack and I looked up at Jack silently. There was a boy walking behind the boy Jack had helped and I smiled down at him.   
“Hiya. I’m Grace May Douglas. What’s your name?” I asked the little boy with a smile. He looked up at me and smiled slightly.   
“I’m Les Jacobs,” he said and I scratched his head.   
“Well, now you owe me. How about we work together? Gracie, me, you, and your brother. It would be ideal,” Jack smirked and crossed his arms. I rolled my eyes. “Seventy-thirty.”   
“That’s not fair! Fifty-fifty.” the boy complained.   
“Fine. Sixty-forty. That’s as good as you’re gonna get,” Jack said and set his jaw and Les nodded at his brother. The other newsies around agreed.  
“Deal. What’s your name?” he asked Jack.   
“Jack Kelly. That there is Gracie May. We both knew each other for years,” Jack said and nudged my shoulder. “She’s just a good a newsie as the boys.”   
“Gee, thanks, Jack,” I laughed a little and moved some hair out of my dark brown eyes.   
“I’m David Jacobs. That’s Les,” he said and looked down at his brother.   
“Nice to meet you, Davie,” I grinned and he nodded at me.   
“You too, Gracie May,” he said to me and gave me a polite smile.   
“Grace. No one really calls me Grace May anymore,” I responded and shrugged. He nodded and Jack led us down the street. The other newsies followed, dancing and singing in a mocking way. One picked me up and spun me around then placed me back down. Jack took me back and placed me at his side. I smacked him and started skipping and spinning, holding one side of my skirt up. I grabbed Les and started dancing with him.   
“Grace! We can make about a thousand a week and you’re fooling around? We gotta work, then we can fool around, okay? Gracie, let Les go,” Jack said to me and I stopped. I gave him a cold glare before letting go of Les’s hands.   
“Look, I know what to do. You just gotta teach ‘em,” I said and nodded towards Pretty Boy Davie and his little brother.   
“I can sell a paper,” David said and I looked at Jack, one side of my mouth curving up.   
“Headlines don’t sell papes, newsies sell papes,” Jack said and looked at me for a moment. I smiled fully now.   
“Let’s go get ‘em, boys!” I smiled and spun around, skipping. I held onto my skirt so I wouldn’t trip. “Jack get’s first pick with who he gets to work with because he’s the oldest - as far as I know.”   
“I’m seventeen,” David said and set his jaw. I rolled my eyes.   
“So am I, Davie. Jack, can I work with this boy? It’ll be fun showing him the ropes. Plus, if you got a kid on you, nothing can stop you. It’ll be fair.”   
“I’m keeping my brother with me,” David said and pulled Les close to him. Les looked at me and smiled.   
“I can work with Jack. I don’t mind. It’ll be fun,” Les smiled and went with Jack. David looked at me and sighed. Honestly, no one was ever happy working with me. I liked to have fun and dance around, but no one else did with me. Plus, I was a girl so none of the other newsies thought I could handle the work. Only Jack did.   
“So, uh, Grace May, is it?” David said awkwardly and I half-smiled.   
“Yeah. But, as I said, call me Grace. We established this already,” I laughed and started walking around, my papes on my shoulder.   
“Yeah… yeah, we did. Sorry. You sound like you’ve been to school. What happened? Were you always - uh - always -” David looked like he didn’t want to offend me and I let out a laugh.   
“Nah. We moved to New York when I was small. I used to live in England. I don’t remember it, really. I was six, I think. We were well-off. Six years later, my momma got sick and died. Problem was, she got my daddy sick. He was the one taking care of ‘er, you see. Then he died. It was just my sister and I, then. I became a newsie right after to keep money coming. We were left with some, ya know? But the money ran out fast, so we couldn’t go to school anymore. I think I was fifteen. My older sister took care of me and gave me most of her food, so I could grow strong. But she died ‘cause she barely ate anything. So it’s only me now. I’m not allowed to live with the other newsies ‘cause they’re boys. So I sleep outside. Jack takes care of me when I really need it, but I usually don’t,” I shrugged and started calling out some fake headlines to sell the papers. David followed me.  
“Oh, I’m so sorry. My life isn’t that bad. Does Jack know about what happened to you?” he asked me, seeming to be actually scared for me. Ha! As if I needed it.   
“Look, I don’t need your pity. I’m doing just fine on my own. Yes, he does know. But he don’t have a lot of money, so what could he do? He helps how he can. He keeps men from hurting me. That’s all I can ask for,” I rolled my eyes and brushed my hair from my face. I was glad I still looked fifteen, though. My heart-shaped face was cluttered with freckles, but the freckles got lesser as it went down my body. It didn’t make me look ugly, just young. And that meant more papes sold for me.  
“You could live with my family and I,” he offered and I gave him a dirty look.   
“I don’t want charity! I don’t want nothing! I’m doing fine on my own. And cause you’re a newsie it don’t seem like your family’s doing too good either,” I snapped, but kept my voice low. I didn’t want all the grown, loud, old men hearing us argue. It wasn’t their business. I called out phony headlines between snapping at David. This boy was just sticking his nose where it don’t belong.   
“It’s not charity. I was offering to be nice. Something you obviously don’t have much experience with. If you don’t, fine. I just thought that you would like food and a bed. Since I saw the outside of the place the newsies sleep. It’s all rock and railing. That can’t be nice,” David said. He hadn’t called out any headlines so I smacked him.   
“Call out interesting headlines. They don’t need to be real,” I said to him, dropping the subject.   
“My father taught us not to lie,” he said stubbornly. I looked up at him.   
“And I learned to do what it takes to live. So we both got an education. You want pay today or you gonna hang onto those papes all day?” I asked him. He gave me a hard look for a moment then he forced it to soften. Obviously his father taught him not to be mean to women, under any circumstance as well.   
“I’m not lying,” he said.   
“Then you’re not eating,” I replied and continued walking around. Once I sold all my papes, I took his from him and did it for him. I kept my money and his in two separate pockets in my skirt so I could tell it apart. David got annoyed with that I was selling his papes, so he took half of them back and sold a few of those.   
When he was done, I dropped his money in his pocket without him noticing. He had a family. He needed it more than I did.   
Jack ran up to us, Les trailing behind him.   
“We have to go,” he said to me and I nodded. I didn’t know why that cop was after Jack, I just knew I had to help him escape.   
“C’mon, Davie,” I said to the boy next to me and started running behind Jack. David had to follow because Les was being dragged by Jack.   
David didn’t argue or fight back, just ran with us. When he noticed I was lagging behind, he grabbed my hand and pulled me next to him.   
“Jack, Jack! Up!” I said to him and he nodded. We climbed up some stairs and got to the rooftop of a building. Jack ran to the edge and jumped off the side. I grabbed Les’ hand and ran over only to see Jack squatting on a ledge. I smacked him and him and David helped me over. David was the last one over and we squatted there for a few good minutes before we heard the door burst open. I jumped a little and David placed his hand over mine, I didn’t know why. I just nodded to tell him I was okay. He nodded a little but didn’t move his hand.   
“Sullivan!” the cop yelled and I looked over at Jack, confused. If the cop was looking for someone named Sullivan, why did Jack decide to run? He looked back at me seriously, warningly. I knew not to pry. Once the cop was off the roof, we got back on the safe side and I stood by David. He didn’t touch me this time, didn’t even try.   
“Why was he following you?” David asked Jack. Jack shrugged and walked over to the door to get off the roof.   
We walked down the stairs silently and when we got to the bottom, our friend was waiting for us. Dark brown hair that was always in a braid, so I assumed it was now permanently wavy. Her green eyes were a muted green that wouldn’t be noticed unless she wore makeup. She was a sixteen year old girl, a runaway. She was the toughest girl I knew, which was why she was my best friend. She was a little shorter than I was, but that didn’t make her look any less tough. She wore boys clothes and a large boys jacket. It was all dirty and ratty, but she didn’t care.   
“Hey, Lizzy,” I smiled and she gave me a half-smile in return.   
“Hey, Grace,” she replied and looked over at David and Les. She stuck out her hand.   
“Elizabeth Good. Lizzy. Pleased to meet you,” Lizzy said.   
“David Jacobs,” he said and shook her hand. Les smiled up at her and shook her hand.   
“Where are we going?” I asked Jack. He smiled.   
“Medda’s,” he responded and started walking. Lizzy, David, Les, and I followed him, just a group of everyday newsies. 


	2. Lovey Dovey

We walked silently to Medda’s until Jack turned around and started walking backwards.   
“Remember what I said earlier, about how you can fool around after work?” he smiled and I grinned. He extended his arms and I took his hands. He spun me around fast and I screamed in delight. I felt someone grab me around the waist and saw that it was David. He started dancing with me over-dramatically.   
“You’re so weird,” he said but smiled. Lizzy pretended to pout until Jack took her hands and started dancing with her. I let go of David and took Les’ hand then David’s and started dancing with them both. I let go of David’s hand to spin Les around. David, Les and I stopped dancing when Jack stopped abruptly. I bumped into him but he caught me so I didn’t fall. He had let go of Lizzy before stopping, I realized. David let go of me immediately, as if I had burned him.   
We walked around the back and walked up the steps. Jack knocked on the door and Medda opened it, clad in pink frilly fake feathers and a corset. Her hair was teased up and her makeup was over-the-top. But that was just Medda.   
“Hey, boy,” she smiled and hugged Jack then kissed his cheek. “Ooh, you’re getting pretty, Gracie. One day, you could be up here with me!”   
“Don’t count on it. I don’t do well in front of people,” I laughed. She then greeted Lizzy.   
“How are you doing, girl? Don’t you let those boys tell you otherwise, you are so much better at their job than them,” she said and tapped under Lizzy’s chin affectionately. Lizzy gave a winning smile.   
“Who are they?” Medda asked Jack, indicating David and Les.   
“Oh, these are Davie and Les Jacobs. They work with us now,” Jack said. David looked as if he were in awe of Medda, so did Les. I set my jaw and lifted my chin, squaring my shoulders. I was not annoyed by the way David looked at Medda, I was not!   
“Pleased to meet you, Davie and Les,” she smiled and kissed both their cheeks. Lizzy stood by me and grabbed my hand. She gave me a look and I nodded. She knew how I felt. It wasn’t jealousy, it was annoyance. As long as guys we were attracted to knew Medda, we wouldn’t have a chance.   
We stayed offstage and watched Medda preform Lovey Dovey, a song she wrote. David, Jack, and Les’ eyes were glued to her whereas Lizzy and I were watching them look like awe-struck idiots.   
After Medda’s performance, we were walking down the steps and I fell off the last step. No one caught me so I landed on my hands and knees. I felt the skin scrape off the heels of my palms and my knees. I just sighed and David and Jack helped me to my feet, pulling on my arms.   
“Are you okay?” David asked me. Lizzy was fighting to contain her laughter.   
“Yeah, just got a scrape,” I shrugged even though I felt the blood from my knees leak down.   
“I can see. Let’s go to my house, my mom can fix you up,” David said and put a hand on my shoulder. I was about to tell him no before Jack picked me up.   
“Let’s go,” he said and smiled, shifting my skirt so it would be easier to carry me. I fought against it at first but I gave up when I realized he was hell-bent on carrying me. David led the way to his house, occasionally asking me if I was okay. I would always respond, “same as I was the last time you asked.”   
David lived in an apartment building, on the fourth floor. We were invited in by a girl named Sarah - his sister. Her hair was a nut-brown and her eyes were more hazel than green. She kept her hair long and loose and wore a clean white blouse, unlike my dirty one that was starting to look more like patchwork than the original blouse. My skirt was dark green and in the places that had rips were pieces of red and brown cloth of different patterns, hers was red and didn’t have any rips. She invited us in and David told her I had hurt myself. I honestly didn’t want to be babied but once David’s mother caught sight of me, there was no stopping it. She cleaned it up then bandaged it, same with my hands. Once she was done, she went to “put more water in the soup” so there would be enough for all of us.   
I sat down at the table and Sarah took a seat next to me, Jack on the other side of her. Lizzy took the seat beside Jack before David could, so he was forced to sit next to me. Les lay on the bed, already asleep. David’s mother sat next to Lizzy and David’s father sat next to him. David’s mother served us and Jack started talking business with David’s father, saying that because he had two pretty girls with him and a little kid and a handsome boy like David, he could earn about a thousand a week. I wasn’t really listening, just wondering what it would be like to have a family. It must be fun being the older sibling. I had an older sister, Mercy Vane, but she was too busy being my parents that she wasn’t my sister. I loved her, I just wish she didn’t have to take up our parents job when they died.   
“Grace?” Jack asked and I looked at him, startled.   
“Oh, I’m sorry. What?” I asked.   
“This is Gracie May Douglas and this here is Elizabeth Good. Both of New York City’s best girl newsies. Grace’s been doing this since - how long?” Jack as me, to interject me into the conversation.   
“Fifteen. Been doing this two years, ma’am,” I said as respectfully as I could. My English accent had vanished and the New York accent occasionally made an appearance, but I tried to fight it.   
“Gracie May Douglas? Where are you from, exactly?” she asked me.   
“Liverpool, England, ma’am. Moved out of there when I was six. I don’t remember it,” I said softly and looked at my bowl.   
“What about you, Elizabeth?” she asked, seeming to see that I didn’t want to keep talking about it.   
“I ran away around thirteen. Been doing this since,” she said and shrugged.   
“Well, bring out the cake you two have been hiding,” David’s father said to his wife and daughter.   
“But that’s for your birthday tomorrow!” his wife said.   
“Tonight is a celebration, bring it out,” he smiled and clapped David on the shoulder. He smiled proudly at his son and I watched. I had been fourteen when my mother died, my father died a few months later on my birthday. I had never seen my father look at me that way, the short time I knew him. Perhaps because at fifteen I was a whiny, good-for-nothing, half-ugly, half-educated girl with nothing really going for me. Now I had this.   
David’s mother went to retrieve the cake and I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable with eating it. I bit my lip and looked at David. He placed his hand over mine, as he had on the ledge, and gave a small smile. I returned it and he removed his hand. I clasped both my hands in my lap and Sarah smiled at me.   
“It’s so nice for David to finally bring friends home, and girls at that! Now I can have someone to talk to as well,” she said and gave a genuine smile. I smiled back and she placed her hands over mine. “Do come by more often.”   
“Actually, that’s something I wanted to ask,” David said to his father as his mother came back with the cake. I gave David a startled look.   
“What is it?” his mother asked him as she cut the cake.   
“Can Grace stay here? She’s not allowed to sleep with the rest of the newsies because she’s a girl. Can she stay here?” David asked. His father was about to say something before Sarah grabbed my hands.   
“Please? She can stay in my room,” she said to him. David’s mother sighed and looked at her husband.   
“I’ll help if I can. Any money I make, I’ll give it to you,” I said to them. If I was going to stay, I wasn’t going to be deadweight.   
“Well, I guess it should be okay…” David’s father said and looked at David. He just looked back at his father blankly.   
“Thank you, sir,” I said softly and looked at my plate. I cut my piece in half, then that half in half. I gave one quarter to Jack, the other to Lizzy. I ate my half silently as David talked to his parents with Jack about how much money they would bring in. I talked to Lizzy and Sarah, but I wasn’t really paying attention.   
When it got too late, Jack and Lizzy left. Sarah lent me a sleepdress to wear and said that I would be able to take a bath tomorrow morning before David and I left. I nodded and she opened the window about half-way and looked back at me.   
“Is this okay?” she asked. I nodded and smiled. The wind blew the sheer white curtains and I remembered when that happened to mine. Mine had little pink roses on them, I remembered. So did my blankets. Hers were white with some lace. I turned off the light once Sarah was in bed and I crawled in next to her. I remembered the last time I slept in a bed. The man had said an orphan wasn’t a worthy tenant and that I had to leave. He allowed me one last night before I had to go. I had no clothing, at least not much. So I didn’t have anything to pack. I had sold all my and my sister’s items for money, but it still hadn’t been enough. I had lay in bed, without sheets, only using my skirt and blouse for warmth. I had kept my hair tied back, unlike now where it hung loose just past my shoulders, so I didn’t have to tie it the next morning. I lay in bed and wept for my family who had left me alone in this world. I had just met Jack and didn’t know he would’ve turned into such a good friend, so I had felt alone.   
Now, I lay next to a girl I hardly knew on a comfortable bed, in a family’s house. But I didn’t feel uncomfortable, it felt right.


End file.
